5-Year-Old Boy Who Set Off Ebola Panic Only Has Respiratory Infection

By

Derek Kravitz

Oct 28, 2014 12:38 pm ET

A New York City Health department official hands out information on the Ebola virus outside a school near the home of a boy tested for Ebola Monday.

Reuters

The 5-year-old boy who set off a frenzy in New York City after showing Ebola-like symptoms following a family trip to West Africa was actually suffering from a respitatory infection, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation said Tuesday.

The child, who along with his family had visited Guinea for about a month before arriving at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center on Sunday night and, by Monday morning, he had developed a fever. But a test for the Ebola virus came back negative late Monday.